On Tue, Sep 25, 2012 at 9:41 PM, Hersfold hersfoldwiki@gmail.com wrote:
I think the vast majority of the people on the Toolserver don't need a lot of that extra "beefy" stuff. To run our tools, all we need is:
- A database providing replication from the Foundation's databases.
- A web server capable of running PHP, CGI, and other web scripts.
- A linux or solaris machine that we can run bots on.
- A platform on which all of this runs reliably.
Excluding the database replication, all of these things are possible now.
If any of us needed a Mediawiki installation, we'd have set up our own site for it years ago. Sure, I can see you wanting to make options like that available to developers, particularly those building extensions to MW, but what the Toolserver community - and really, all of the Wikimedia projects - need right now is something that meets those four bullet points. With the Toolserver down as often as it's up lately, and Labs not ready to provide any of that support until December 2013 (not to mention no assistance moving there), either a) the Toolserver needs funding so it can get back to working order, even if it means no further accounts or projects can be created on it, or b) Labs needs to get that stuff running much sooner.
Database replication should be done in the next 2-3 months. It may be done sooner, but that's our current goal date. Brave community members can start building any other missing infrastructure.
And frankly, I don't see why WMDE should be footing the bill for all the transitioning work when the Foundation isn't providing them any support to do so while setting up a competing system at the same time.
I've never built Labs to be a competing system. Labs should have similar functionality, but I find the toolserver portions of Labs to be a small part of its function. My biggest goal with integrating Toolserver features is to bring our Toolserver community more closely together with our developer community. They are fairly disjoint right now.
WMDE offered to help with the transition work. The decision to move the community from Toolserver to Labs was made jointly between WMDE and WMF. It's not possible for WMF to handle building the Labs infrastructure and to transition the tools. We don't have enough Toolserver experience to do so properly anyway.
Toolserver was mostly built by the community from the start. Even WMDE working the transition won't be enough. We need people like you to help transition. My team will help you as much as needed, and will gladly answer any questions you have.
- Ryan